The process of manufacturing glass articles utilizing paste mold machines has been known for many years.
In that process, a parison mold and a piston are used for forming a preform which is supported by a rotating crown.
A blow mold is then positioned around the preform or parison in order to provide for the final blowing of the desired shape of the article. After determined time, the blow mold is opened, and, the formed article of glassware is removed from the mold and is transferred to a cooling station.
The articles are then transported to a trimming machine in which excess ends of glass are removed, and, the trimmed articles are then placed on a conveyor belt which transports them to a tempering lehr.
After the article transfer stage, it is required that a take-out mechanism be provided, for removing the articles from the blow molds, and for transference of the blown articles to the trimming machine. These take-out mechanisms commonly include a tubular support containing an internal shaft which slides vertically in the tubular support by the action of a pneumatic cylinder. The shaft has a series of gripping fingers attached to one of its ends, the gripping fingers being employed to retain a formed article of glassware, and, then release it at the appropriate time.
One of the disadvantages of such mechanisms is that the handling of the articles is restricted to a single diameter of article. When articles are to be handled which have a greater or lesser diameter, then, it is necessary to change the gripping fingers in order to accommodate the different size of article.
Another disadvantage of known take-out mechanisms is that it is not possible to adjust the height of the take-out mechanism in order to accommodate articles of a differing height.
For this reason the take-out mechanisms of the prior art are far from satisfactory with respect to their versitility, since it is not possible for those mechanisms to handle different sizes of articles, and consequently, it is necessary to provide a specific take-out mechanism for each specific size of article.